The Anishnabe(True men), or, Algonquin(Place of spearing fish) Indians, were bands of Canadian tribes who traveled up and down the rivers of Quebecand Ontario. All of the Algonquin tribes either lived in the northernmost parts of Michigan or in places along rivers like Quebec and Ontario, in Canada. The Algonquin social structure was very straightforward. It was created so that the Algonquins could remain in a peaceful state while keeping their territory. The Algonquins had a shamanistic religion. They would have spells and rituals, and go on vision quests to complete tasks. This was very important in all the decisions that they made, and was the center-point on how they lived their lives. The Algonquin Indian Tribes spoke many different languages. Sixty percent of all Algonquin tribes spoke their own native language. There were hundreds of languages spoken, but only some of them were spoken by more than one tribe. Most of the Algonquin tribes were very similar, and there traditions were very important in the shaping of the North American trading systems.

The Algonquins lived in many different places, but all of them were around the same area. Around one tenth of the Algonquins lived in Northern Michigan.This was a great place for tribes to live because it was around many bodies of water. It was a great place for fishing, which helped them trade with France. Another place that the Algonquins stayed was in Ontario, Canada. Just like Michigan, Ontario had many areas to go fishing, and had a lot of valuables to be found. This was a great place for them to stay, especially when they adapted to the cool climate. The last main place that the Algonquins lived was in Quebec, Canada. The reasons for living here were very similar, except that there was one extra reason why they lived here. The Algonquins traded with the French a lot over their time lived. Quebec’s placing in Canada ideal for the French, making it easier for them to travel through Canada, and trade with the Algonquins.

The tribes of Algonquin had a concise and simple social structure. Many old tribes would have a set order on how you can treat people, dividing it from race to gender. Algonquin tribes would not do this. On the top of the social “ladder”, there was the biggest chief (Most powerful). This was normally the oldest chief out of all of the chiefs. After that would be all the chiefs from other tribes. Each tribe had their own chief. A person would become chief when his father died. If there were no sons of the chief, then the job would go to the next closest male relative. After the chiefs, there were rich men. Rich men were just respected because they were wealthy. They didn’t really play a key role in anything. Most of these people were related in some way to the chief(s). The lowest bar on the social ladder was poor working women. Most women would get married, but the ones who wouldn’t were often poor. They had no way to make a living, so they had to work long, hard, low paying jobs to support themselves.The Algonquins practiced a very shamanistic religion called Manitou. There were lots of levels of religiousness. Spells and healing herbs were used in this religion, too. They believed that God (Called “Kichi Manito) had created three ages. Golden, past, and present. The Algonquins believed that everything in the world was created in a circle. They came up with the term, “The Circle of Life”. They believed that if something happened, it was bound to happen again. This religion was practiced in many different ways. A lot of the practicing differentiated depending on what language was spoken there. Scientists believe that at least sixty percent of languages spoken there were in the language, “Algonquin”, their native language. The other languages spoken were mostly English and French, the present languages of Canada.